Sled-brake



No. 62mm. Patented May 9, I899.

. J. w. JAMES.

SLED BRAKE.

(Application filed Feb. 8, 1,899.) 7

(No Model.)

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UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. JAMES, OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

SLED-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,498, dated May 9, 1899.

Application filed February 8, 1899. Serial No. 704,955. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN IV. JAMES, aresident of Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sled- Brakes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled'in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,

Myinvention relates to an improvement in sled-brakes, the object of the invention being to provide a brake which'can be operated to either slacken or stop the forward or rearward movement of a sled.

A further object is to so construct a brake for a sled that a great leverage will be secured to drive the brake-shoe into the snow or ice to stop the sled.

A further object is to provide a brake for sleds which will be simple in construction, cheap to manufacture, easy to operate, and require a minimum amount of power to operate it.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter de-' scribed, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved sled, showing the brake secured thereto; and Fig. 2 is a view in section.

1 represents an ordinary bob-sled, compris ing the runners 2 and the body 3, supported thereonx When two bobs are employed, I prefer to use my brake on the rear bob. A shaft 4 is'revolubly mounted in suitable bearings secured tothe bolster 5 or to the under side of the platform orbody, if desired. One end of the shaft 4 is bent upward to form a lever 7, having a hole or opening near its end for the reception of a rod 8, which connects M the same with a suitable operating-lever 9.

Any suitable rack-10 may be provided for said operating-lever, whereby to secure the same at any adjustment desired, or, if desired, I may provide rings or loops at on the lever 7 for the reception of a pole or-rod b for operating same. This form of operating-lever is employed when no body is used.

The shaft 4 is provided between its ends with arms 11, which are pivotally connected at their ends to the bifurcated rear ends of rods or pitmen 12. The rods or pitmen 12 project forwardly from the crank-arms 11 and are bifurcated at their forward ends for attachment to my improved brake-shoes 13.

The brake-shoes 13 are made similar in general contour and are disposed one on each side of each runner and pivoted to-said runners by means of suitable pins or bolts 14, as shown. Washers 14* are disposed between the brake-shoes and runners whereby to prevent Wear on the latter.

It will be seen from the above description that when it is desired to stop or slacken the speed of a sled the lever 9 is pushed forward, thus pulling the rod 8 and lever 7, which operation willturn the shaft 4 and move the arms 11 thereon in a rearward direction, thus pulling the rods 12 and the upper ends of the brake-shoes 13 and forcing the ends of the shoes into the snow and checking the momentum of the sled.

By the particular construction and arrangement of parts above described I secure a great leverage on the shoes, and ,hence am enabled to drive them deep into the snow and maintain them in such position with slight exertion on the part of the operator.

Each brake-shoe is made hook-shaped in general form, with the curved portion a (which constitutes the long arm of the lever) terminating approximately over the pivotal connection of the shoe to the runner, and the lower end of each shoe (which constitutes the short arm of the lever) is curved slightly downwardly, and it forms a tooth at b. It will also be observed that the free ends or short arms of the brake shoes or levers can be readily made to assume positions at right angles to the runners, and thus serve to positively resist the progress of the sled as contradistinguished from the partial or limited resistance offered by the shoes rubbing on the snow when the free [ends of said shoes are disposed at an obtuse angle to the runners. The amount of resistance which the rider wishes to offer to the progress of the sled is therefore completely within his control.

Various slight changes might be resorted to in the general form and arrangement of the several parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I would have it understood that I do not wish to limit myself to the precise details set forth, but consider myself at liberty to make such slight changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a sled and a crankshaft mounted thereon, of a hook-shaped brake-shoe pivotally attached near one end to the sled-runner at a point forwardly of the crank-shaft, the hooked end of said shoe projecting forwardly and then 'rearwardly, and terminating over the pivoted attachment of the shoe to the runner, and a rod connecting the extremity of said hooked end of the shoe with the crank-shat t, whereby when said crank-shaft is operated in one direction, the

rod will pull upon the shoe and turn it on its fulcrum to project its shorter arm or member below the lower face of the runner.

2. The combination with a sled and'a crankshaft mounted thereon, of a brake-shoe pivotally connected near its rear end to the runner of the sled at a point in advance of the crank-shaft, said rear end of the shoe being substantially at right angles to the shoe at 

